The One and Only Door

Readings:
I Kings 13
John 10:6-13

Focus:
I Kings 13:18:"The old man urged him, 'I also am a prophet, as you are; and an angel commanded me by the word of the Lord to bring you to my home to eat and drink with me.' He was lying...."
John 10:7b & 10:"I am the door of the sheepfold....A thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and may have it in all its fullness."

The passage in John continues to speak of paths to God. Jesus is again very clear that the many ways to God that our culture speaks of do not exist. Instead, Jesus says that there is only one way, and that he is that way. To get to God, one must go through the door, and Jesus is that door. But it is a good door. It offers life. In I Kings a man of God--someone one ought to trust--offers good-sounding words to another prophet, and convinces him to deviate from what he had already learned from God. But when he does that, the ultimate result for him is death. It is only in following God's way that we find life. And as Jesus says, it is life in all its fullness.

False Shepherds and Gods

Readings:
I Kings 12
John 10:1-5

Focus:
I Kings 12:"After taking counsel about the matter he made two calves of gold and said to the people, 'You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough; here are your gods, Israel, that brought you up from Egypt.'"
John 10:1:"In very truth I tell you, the man who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is nothing but a thief and a robber."

We often hear these days that all religions are the same and that there are many paths to God. But Jesus was clear that this is not the case. He says that there is a shepherd who goes in by the door, and that shepherd is the correct one for the sheep to follow. Others who don't go in by the door are thieves and robbers. Giving a different path for the sheep to follow, a path that doesn't go through the door, is not something that will help the sheep. It will do them harm.